Photocatalytic dye degradation is one of the simple and convenient ways to eliminate effluents produced by paper, plastic, printing, and textile industries. ZnS is one of the most investigated catalysts on which different modifications are applied. Here, PVP-assisted zinc sulfide (ZnS) nanopowder is prepared hydrothermally. The photoluminescence spectra signify the generated intermediate state which is attributed to sulfur (S) vacancy as obtained from the theoretical analysis. This defect-induced ZnS has shown excellent Rhodamine B (RhB) dye degradation of 95% in 100 min with dye sensitization effect under UV irradiation. Under visible light, the degradation of RhB is only 50% in the presence of ZnS. The sensitization of RhB in the presence of UV light signifies the generation of visible light through the intermediate states caused by S vacancy. However, to eliminate the disadvantage of photocatalysis in highly concentrated wastewater management and expense of UV source, RhB is degraded by sonocatalysis, and 70% of dye is removed within 100 min in the presence of ZnS nanopowder. Therefore, the efficient catalytic dye degradations are achieved employing the minimum amount of ZnS powder.

光催化染料降解是消除造纸、塑料、印刷和纺织工业产生的废水的一种简单方便的方法。硫化锌是研究最多的催化剂之一，对其进行了不同的改性。在这里，PVP 辅助硫化锌 (ZnS) 纳米粉末是通过水热制备的。光致发光光谱表明产生的中间态归因于从理论分析中获得的硫 (S) 空位。这种缺陷诱导的 ZnS 在 100 分钟内表现出优异的罗丹明 B (RhB) 染料降解 95%，并在紫外线照射下具有染料敏化作用。在可见光下，在 ZnS 存在下，RhB 的降解率仅为 50%。在紫外光存在下 RhB 的敏化表明通过 S 空位引起的中间态产生可见光。然而，为了消除光催化在高浓度废水管理中的缺点和紫外线源的费用，RhB 通过声催化降解，在 ZnS 纳米粉末的存在下，70% 的染料在 100 分钟内被去除。因此，使用最少量的 ZnS 粉末即可实现有效的催化染料降解。